Take Off Your Leggings, or Reticence and Consideration
by SubRosa7
Summary: Thranduil doesn't even know how he gets himself into situations like this.


Title: Take Your Leggings Off, or "Reticence and Consideration"

Author: Susana

Series: Desperate Hours

Warning: AU.

Disclaimer: All recognizable elements are Tolkien's

Summary: Thranduil doesn't even know how he gets himself into situations like this.

A/N 1: Thanks to Emma and Kaylee for letting me borrow their Greenwood elf original characters from their series "The Greenwood Chronicles," including Linwe, Fileg, Veassen, and Master Nestorion. Please note my AU is not the same as theirs, but I have very much enjoyed working with their Greenwood elves and characterizations of Thranduil and his family.

This story takes place during the later years of the War of the Last Alliance, at the end of the second age.

Title: Take Your Leggings Off, or "Reticence and Consideration"

Thranduil repressed a groan of both pain and frustration as he side-stepped to prevent an erratic swing of his sometime-pupil's sword from cutting off said pupil's own braids. Or possibly his head. Thranduil wasn't really sure which. He didn't even know why he'd volunteered to give lessons in swordplay Healer-Apprentice Ecthelion Erynion anyway, or continued them. And tonight, he had much less forbearance than usual for teaching his sort-of-friend tonight. Most nights, Theli amused him. Tonight, Thranduil was doing his level best to hide the fact that he'd torn a ligament in his knee during a skirmish two days ago. If he got the injury treated, then he would be put on the injured list before tomorrow's major sortie against the enemy. That was unacceptable to Thranduil, so he was going about his normal routine to show that he was unhurt.

Unfortunately, Theli was being more aggravating than usual today. Normally a hard worker who paid good attention during a lesson, today he seemed to have his head in the clouds. He kept missing cues and fumbling moves that Thranduil KNEW that Theli had already mastered. Thranduil was about out of patience.

Theli dropped his guard again. Thranduil knocked the apprentice-healer's sword right out of his hands, sending it flying into the dust. A sweep of Thranduil's foot, and Theli followed, landing hard on his rump.

"Ouch!" Yelped Theli

"Pay attention!" Thranduil snapped, entirely devoid of sympathy, "If you're not taking this seriously, then I do have other things I could be doing, you know!"

"I AM taking it seriously!" Theli objected, "I'm just tired!" He gave Thranduil a sad, reproachful look with his expressive dark blue eyes, as if irritated and hurt that the Prince was so snappish.

Thranduil rolled his eyes. "Oh, that's well enough then. Your enemies will ALWAYS wait until you're well rested to attack you."

"Really?" Theli asked, confused but brightening, "Because that's not what..."

"No, you idiot!" Thranduil interrupted, barely holding onto his temper. "Get your blade back up, and KEEP IT THERE. Either that, or just go back to the healing tents."

Theli straightened up and nodded seriously. They began again, and the young healer was doing much better, this time. That posed its own problem. The young elf's fighting style was extremely erratic. Theli was getting lessons from Lothlorien's soldiers, and Imladris', and some of the humans. And those were only the teachers Thranduil knew about. That didn't make Theli a GOOD swordsman, but it did make him an unpredictable one. Thranduil had to move unexpectedly quickly a time or two, to counter a move that he wasn't sure Theli even knew how to properly execute.

The sideways movement was making his knee hurt like someone had shoved a knife into the joint. Thranduil just gritted his teeth and indicated that Theli should pick himself back up off the dust and come at Thranduil again.

Theli obeyed, for once actually proceeding with the drill that Thranduil had directed him to start with. Then Theli all of a sudden just dropped to his knees in front of Thranduil, carelessly letting go of his sword.

Thranduil had not been expecting that. Who would have? He just barely pulled his blade away from Theli's head in time.

"What are you DOING?" Thranduil yelled, sounding so much like his own long-ago training sergeants that he would have hated himself if he hadn't been so incandescently angry at the insanely stupid and dangerous thing the student in front of him had just done.

"What's wrong with your knee?" Theli asked absently, peering intently at Thranduil's at the joint in question. Theli did not seem to have even noticed that his actions had caused Thranduil to nearly kill him by accident. A less skilled swordsman, running a drill that his partner abandoned like that, WOULD have killed his sparring partner. Or at least seriously wounded him, even with a blunted wooden blade.

"Absolutely nothing is wrong with my knee." Thranduil answered through gritted teeth, "You, though... what in the name of the Belain is wrong with your HEAD?"

If Theli was even listening to Thranduil, he gave no sign.

"Take off your leggings." The young healer ordered instead, as if they were in the healer's ward and Thranduil was nothing but any other patient.

Thranduil gaped at him.

Theli sighed, as if it was Thranduil who was being difficult. Then he got up and started to move closer to the prince.

"No. No! Get away, Theli! I'm serious! Now!" Thranduil commanded, backing away.

Theli just followed him, all the while saying soothingly. "No, you're holding it weird. Look? See- you can't even walk away properly! Just take off your leggings so I can have a look."

Fortunately or unfortunately, Thranduil wasn't sure which yet, his sworn-brothers - also young officers in their King's army - had been attracted by the sounds of the quarrel.

"Problem, gwador?" Asked Linwe, the eldest of their group. With just one of his dark eye brows arched, Linwe gave his silent but eloquent opinion of the ridiculousness of the proceedings. Thranduil was offended on one level but on another didn't blame Linwe. A lieutenant and ellon as capable as Thranduil shouldn't need a rescue from an apprentice healer who had barely been old enough to come to the Black Gate with Greenwood's army.

But it was Fileg whose reaction was the most likely to make Thranduil want to hit him. Thranduil knew it even before his cousin opened his mouth. And surely enough...

Fileg, fighting a smile, cheerily asked, "Is there something that you'd like to tell us about, brother? Say, a new romance..." Fileg gestured between Thranduil and the approaching Theli, and winked saucily.

To Thranduil's relief, the last of his gwedyr took a hold of Thranduil's shoulder, and gently pulled him away from Theli. Veassen must also have given the apprentice healer a very critical look, since Theli raised his hands in apology and backed away, as if finally realizing that he was crowding Thranduil.

Thranduil rested one of his hands on top of Veassen's in thanks, while glaring at Theli- and Fileg.

Theli sighed, and then lifted up his chin, appearing determined to see that Thranduil got proper care for his knee. "There's something wrong with Thranduil's knee, and he won't hold still for me to look at it!" The young healer complained to Thranduil's gwedyr.

Thranduil frowned at Theli ferociously. Theli had just betrayed Thranduil's trust by snitching to Linwe, Fileg and Veassen

Linwe had almost entirely lost interest in Theli. His eyes were narrowed at Thranduil in a distinctly interrogative and threatening fashion. Thranduil ignored him. Determined to prove that there was nothing wrong with his knee, Thranduil reached forward to pick Theli up by his tunic collar. "Nothing is wrong with me!" He snapped, and then shook Theli - hard- for good measure.

Thranduil had the satisfaction of seeing Theli squirm and start to get upset. Then the young elf began to look more distraught, and Thranduil felt a little bad about scaring him. At least until Theli spoke again. "Put me down, Thranduil! I'm too heavy - you're going to hurt yourself worse by straining your knee!"

"Thranduil." Linwe said shortly, "Put the elfling down. We are going to see Master Healer Nestorion. Now."

Thranduil glared at all of them, but he did put Theli down. The young healer was babbling something about how he wasn't an elfling, but going to see Nestorion was a good idea because joints and ligaments are complicated.

Thranduil gathered the shreds of his dignity, and reluctantly set off to accompany Linwe in the direction of the healers. The Prince allowed himself to limp a little, since it was known that he was hurt and so it was unlikely that he'd be able to participate in the sally tomorrow anyway. Meanwhile, Theli dogged their steps in a puppyish way, as if wanting to make sure both that Thranduil got to the healers, and maybe even that Theli got to watch, as if he wanted to learn more about ligaments and joints with Thranduil as the elven test subject.

Thranduil growled and reached back to grab the younger elf by the ear and pull him along. "And you...you get to tell Master Nestorion all about how our training session went today."

"Ow! Ow ow ow!" Theli objected, squirming. He seemed torn between going with them, and escaping. Thranduil knew perfectly well that Theli wouldn't want to tell Master Nestorion about getting so distracted by Thranduil's limp that he forgot that they were even practicing with blades.

"But Master Nestorion's so busy these days, I don't want to bother him!" Theli squawked.

"Well, neither did I, thank you very much!" Thranduil snapped back. Linwe just rolled his eyes.

As they got closer to the healers' tent, Theli started dragging his feet and looking pitiful. Thranduil at first had every intention of telling on Theli, but at the last moment he grudgingly changed his mind, deciding that he couldn't be bothered with it.

"Go on." Thranduil said, letting go of Theli's ear and giving the youngster a relatively gentle shove in the other direction.

"Thank you!" Theli said, his midnight-blue eyes eloquent with appreciation and apology and affection, "I hope that your knee mends quickly, Thranduil! And I'm sorry for...well, for most of today."

"Just go." Thranduil told him with a tired sigh. Even from outside the entrance to the healer's domain, Thranduil could hear Master Healer Nestorion.

"Again, my Prince?" He asked, all fond exasperation. Thranduil knew that the next part of his day would be exceedingly annoying.

5


End file.
